Saturday, June 25, 2005

Diagramming social networks

I am trying to create a program (currently written in Java, in which case it would be used as an applet) that allows for multi-degree-of-freedom visualization of a social network. The image here shows an output for the program using ten contacts of mine. Here's the way it works right now:
  • A color code describes interest type (and you choose how many interests)
    1. cyan
    2. pink
    3. lightGray
    4. yellow
    5. orange
    6. white
  • I'm at the center. The radial distance outward from the center indicates the strength of the interest this contact has in this particular interest type.
  • The angular distance clockwise from positive horizontal shows how up-to-date I am with the contact. Less clock time after 3 PM means more up-to-date.
  • The size of the contact's circle symbol shows how important the contact is in this context.
  • The border thickness shows the level of intimacy I have with the contact -- thin borders are closer friends.
  • And the contact's initials are to the right of and below the contact's circle symbol.
So what do I do with this? Two things come to mind:
  1. If an important contact is not up-to-date, I have to work on that. Especially if the contact's interest is strong.
  2. If there is a lot of interest in a certain area (one color reaching a high level of interest), then it's time for me to soak myself in that area a little bit.
Your mileage may vary.

But I want to make this useful to others, not just myself. To do that I have to make it interactive, and let you decide how many contacts to include. I know how to do this, but it'll take a little longer to put together. Maybe by the end of the week.

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posted by Ron @ 11:50 PM

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